One of the most amazing things in God’s Creation is the everyday miracle of the metamorphosis of insects. The word “metamorphosis” simply means “great change” and this indeed is what happens as caterpillars change into butterflies. The Monarch Butterfly is a good example.

The life cycle of a Monarch starts when the mother lays her egg on the milkweed plant. The egg matures in three days and an incredibly tiny caterpillar emerges, the larva stage of its development. The tiny caterpillar consumes more then its own weight in food every day. After three weeks the caterpillar grows to its full size and then searches for a place to attach itself to as it turns itself into a chrysalis, the pupa stage in its development.

In only two minutes it transforms from caterpillar to chrysalis and here is where the amazing change begins. For the first thing that the caterpillar does inside its chrysalis is to release chemicals stored in its body and dissolve itself into a liquid mush. Out of this the body, head, wings and internal organs are formed. In only 8 days a full size Monarch butterfly emerges. The question that has intrigued humanity for centuries is this, how does the mush organise itself into the incredible complexity that is a butterfly? There is no brain or apparent pattern in the mush, but obviously there is one for all Monarch caterpillars turn into Monarch butterflies! The facts show that God programmed every stage of the caterpillar/butterfly life cycle.

The Monarch Butterflies are also mysteriously able to mass migrate across North America every year. The mystery is deepened by the fact that not one of them has made the journey before – no butterfly lives long enough to fly the 2,000 journey there and back more than once! There are three generations of Monarchs in the North that live between 2-6 weeks but amazingly the fourth generation migrates to warmer climates in Mexico and Southern California and will live up to 8 months by hibernating! Then returning back to the North to start the cycle again in the spring.

The Monarch butterflies that migrate are thought to be guided by the sun’s orbit as they travel. Even on cloudy days they stay on track thanks to an internal biological compass that functions according to the movement of the sun. There are some populations of Monarchs in California, Florida and Texas that don’t migrate!

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we read “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”. The person who becomes a born-again Christian undergoes a transformation like that of caterpillar to butterfly.

Categories: Animals